Green Lantern: First Flight - The best animated comic book movie yet?

Following on from hits such as Superman Vs Doomsday, Justice League: New Frontier and the awesome Wonder Woman animated movie, the latest DC hero to get the animated feature film treatment is The Green Lantern.

In Green Lantern: First Flight, fans of the character get to see Hal Jordan's transformation into the Green Lantern and his iconic first meeting with the intergalactic Green Lantern Corps. Featuring the voice talents of Michael Madsen and Trisha Helfer along with Christopher Meloni as Hal Jordan/Green Lantern, it looks set to be another hot for the DC Universe range of DVD movies.

These films are a great idea. They help fill a niche until live action movies come out, and they can also help gauge the demand for other films, as well as being superb entertainment. Something that is great about all of these animated DC universe films is the faithful representation of these classic characters in updated settings.

The films are an interesting diversion, but as they are being released, the DC Universe animated movies are building up their own unique vision of DC continuity and stories, and it will be fascinating to see where the range goes next.

Some of these films are surprisingly violent and brutal, such as the Superman Doomsday movie or the recent Wonder Woman 2009 animated film. They're cartoons, but they ain’t necessarily for kids.

That's cool, but parents need to keep an eye on what their children are being exposed to. That said, having children watch DC Universe animated movies is a damn sight better than exposing them to things like Gears of War, Halo and Resident Evil. Get your kids into something good. Try the Green Lantern: First Flight movie for starters.

SUPERMAN- DOOMSDAY FOR THE LEGENDARY HERO?

With DC's apparent U-turn on all of their comic book movies, (see this article) it seems that the original DC superhero, Superman himself, is in limbo once more. With the Superman Returns film being something of a damp squib with fans, critics and the box office, it was clear that the franchise needed a new direction to survive. Now, there had been many attempts to bring Superman back to the screen before that film, and most of them would have fared better than what was eventually released. It wasn't the fault of Brandon Routh or director Bryan Singer- it was a pedestrian script and a lackluster story that just came off flat and tired, which was a shame.

How should Superman come back to the screen? We need a better villain than tired old Lex Luthor, for a start. Braniac or Darkseid would be fantastic, but then again, they might not have enough of an impact to really invigorate the series, so how about adapting that most hard-hitting (literally) of modern Superman stories...

DOOMSDAY.

If Superman was to face off against Doomsday, as in the Death of Superman story from the early 90s, we would have a massive film full of action and drama that could tie into the larger DC movie universe that so sorely needs to be created for the DC movies to survive and grow beyond the blinkered view that everything should be like The Dark Knight now. It would also provide Warners/DC with huge merchandising opportunities for the character, not to mention the other DC heroes that show up in the story. It could even be the precursor to a Justice League movie, if you think about it.

The Death of Superman storyline would even be a good idea for a trilogy of films. There could be the Death of Superman story to start with, then the second film could be the World Without a Superman/Reign of the Supermen stories rolled into one. The third would take care of the Return of Superman and maybe the second Doomsday story. think about it. It has the potential to be the greatest superhero movie trilogy ever, with genuine danger and something at stake as the heroes take on this terrifying foe.

The source material is there. The ideas are there. The graphic novels are there to be adapted. The talent is out there. Come on Warners, give us a Superman film we can be thrilled with. It's been far too long since Zod did his stuff.

WONDER WOMAN- TRAILER FOR ANIMATED MOVIE NOW ONLINE

Following on from the success of animated DVD features like Superman: Doomsday and DC: New Frontiers, the latest addition to the growing range of licensed animated comic movies is a feature length adventure featuring Wonder Woman. The trailer for this project is now online and looks pretty good for a DVD feature. Diana/Wonder Woman is voiced in the feature by Keri Russell, and the animation certainly does the character’s pedigree proud. Check it out: